$321M contract signed to upgrade PATH systemJanuary 20, 2010 - Essex County NewsA consortium of companies said yesterday it has signed an agreement to upgrade the PATH rail system linking New Jersey and New York. The Team- led by German engineering conglomerate Siemens – will modernize and automate the entire Port Authority Trans-Hudson system. It was awarded a 321 million contract to design, manufacture, and install new technology and remove the old system. The contract is part of a larger effort by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey which operates the commuter train system, to replace PATH’s current signal technology. The system – which includes routes from Newark to the World Trade Center and Hoboken to Herald Square – is a century old and still uses equipment that dates to the early 1900s. The Siemens-led team will install a technology called Communications-based Train Control, which will help replace antiquated mechanical train controls with computerized signals. The improvements will include on-board computers that communicate with trackside equipment to reduce intervals between trains, allow more trains to use the same tracks and enhance PATH’s overall ability to meet peak-time demand, said Becky Sabin, a Siemens spokeswoman. The firm will also provide a train supervision system to increase efficiency and allow PATH to exactly locate each train within its rail network. The project will increase passenger capacity from 240,000 to 29,000 passengers per day, Sabin added. Other firms in the consortium include Daidone Electric of Newark which will provide installation and construction work, Invensys rail Corp. and Aldridge Electric of Libertyville, Ill. Siemens expects to complete the project by 2017, saying it will allow more train movement into and out of New York City without disrupting existing infrastructure. In addition to the new signal system, PATH’s rail cars – the oldest in the country – will be replaced with a new 340-car fleet by 2011, complete with real-time train arrival updates. 
Trouble on the GWB?
The Star Ledger - January 24, 1997 |
Pulaski Skyway Contract #4June 2014In May 2014, Daidone Electric and CCA Civil Joint Venture were awarded the NJDOT Pulaski Skyway Contract #4. This project will extend the current work already underway by Daidone and CCA on Contract #3, which focuses on the NB section of the Pulaski Skyway. This major project, literally located partially in Daidone Electric's Backyard, will help to extend the life one of New Jersey's most iconic and traveled structures. The 3.5mi long steel bridge, constructed in 1932, carries over 74,000 cars daily and is now on the National Register of Historic Places. Construction is already underway on Pulaski Contract #3whihc incudes the full closure and rehabilitation of the North Bound lanes. Once Contract #3 is completed in early 2015, the joint venture will change traffic so that the Southbound traffic flows in the Northbound lanes, and begin the Contract #4 repairs of the South Bound lanes. Contract 4 includes the installation of over 83,000 feet of conduit and 240,000 LF of wire, along with new Intelligent Traffic Devices to help motorists become more aware and advised of traffic conditions. These ITS devices, such as Dynamic Message Signs, Traffic Cameras, and Travel Time Systems are available to the public through NJDOT and 511 service websites. Daidone Electric is proud to be a part of this tremendous project, helping to improve the commute of thousands who travel this landmark daily. 
Update on Progress at Ground ZeroOctober 2003 - Electrical Union WorldRecent deadlines were met at Ground Zero that insure the continued progress in the re-establishing of infrastructure essential to the life and success of downtown Manhattan. On September 1, 2003 workers for Daidone Electric were successful at meeting the milestone for the 15kV/ 480 volt A/C commissioning and on September 15 the energizing of the 27kV Traction Power / 3rd rail power system for the PATH trains. According to Daidone General Superintendent frank Stanton, the milestones could not have been possible without the personal commitment and sacrifices of the local 3 journeymen who worked extensive hours 7 days a week to get them on line at the assigned time by the customer, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. In addition to accomplishing the energizing of these systems, Local 3 members were instrumental in installing the supports and conduits upon the surface of the “slurry wall” at the site. The slurry wall is the structure that was built at the time of the construction of the World Trade Center complex in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s that acts as a dam retaining the Hudson River. The base of the site is constructed similar to a bathtub and keeps the river from seeping into the basement of the site and from entering into the myriad number of tunnels that feed the NYC subway system and the PATH trains from New Jersey. The construction of the supports for the conduits that were to run parallel to the slurry wall was included in the electrical drawings. Although the general contractor expressed some misgivings regarding Daidone Electric’s ability to perform the support work, Daidone was successful at getting the necessary engineering and structural loading calculations signed off by a professional structural engineer. This satisfied the concerns of the customer and the general contractor and the work for the construction of the supports remained in the electrical portion of the contract. A tough New York City survivor and thriverENR specialty contracting -Febuary 4, 1991Not just anybody can succeed as a contractor in the rugged and unique New York City market. You’re lost unless you’re smart, gutsy and tough, yet sensitive to employees. John Daidone is all that and more. He combines “good business savvy” with “a personal touch,” notes Daidone vice president Steven Zahn. And he speaks the language-he has a New Jersey accent and says “fuhgeddaboudit” a lot. Daidone, 50, is the Bances cigar chomping founder and president of Daidone Electric inc., Newark, NJ, an electrical contractor that does virtually all its low-bid public work in New York city. Daidone is unusual in that he rarely acts as a subcontractor. His exclusive 50-50 joint venture partner since 1985 has been J.A. Jones construction Co., Charlotte, NC. Daidone hooked up with Jones because of its “unlimited bonding capacity” and “sophisticated way or doing work” he says. Jones wanted someone who had been around the block in NYC.” we would not go to New York City by ourselves. That would be a bad decision” says Johnnie H. Jones, chairman of Jones group, Inc. Daidone in 1988 finished a $22-million contract with another contractor to install track switches, and literally miles of wiring for a computerized system to control and monitor incoming and outgoing trains on 34 tracks at the Long Island Rail road’s West Side storage yard in Manhattan. Past electrical jobs around New York City include the Lincoln and Holland tunnels, the George Washington Bridge, Newark Airport, and work on subways and highways. A current major project involves installing electrical equipment and computers at the North River Pollution Control Plant on the Hudson River. In 1991, the final year of the eight year project, the Jones/Daidone portion will total more than $100-million. Daidone also is in the midst of a $120-million contract to install two and a half million feet of fiber optic cable in four boroughs in New York City that will link the subway control and communications systems. Problems include theft, cables eaten into by rats, filthy ankle-deep water, racing trains and intruders of all kinds. Another particularly challenging subway job involves a design-build contract to replace switching equipment on multilevel tracks in the East New York section of Brooklyn. It’s so tough there that workers often arrive to find three stripped cars right outside of the Jones/ Daidone office. Even during the day, “everything goes” on below the tracks where the work has to be done without stopping train service, says Jose Febo, general foreman. “You think of it as a combat zone.” John Daidone grew up in a combat zone, in a roughneck neighborhood in Newark. His parents sent him to military school “to get me off the streets,” he says. At 19 he married and began studying under an 80-year-old electrician and friend of the family. Daidone opened his firm in 1967. He counts a $1-million hospital job in 1971, a $20-million NJ railroad electrification job in 1980 and huge subway and sewage treatment in 1983 as his big breaks. Of his six children, 26-year-old Victor stepped up to take over the firm. “I came in walking softly four years ago,” Victor says, and he is in no hurry to push his father out. “I’d rather have him up there to tell you the truth.” |